Yves Klein
Patented his own blue, painted with fire and with bodies, and did it all in seven years.
Yves Klein was born in Nice in 1928 to two painters, trained as a judo instructor in Japan, and produced his entire body of work between 1954 and his death from a heart attack in 1962, at thirty-four. He registered International Klein Blue, an ultramarine held in a synthetic binder that keeps the pigment's raw intensity, and used it for monochromes, sponges, reliefs and casts. The Anthropometries were painted by pressing models covered in the blue onto paper; the Cosmogonies used rain and wind; the Fire Paintings were made with a flamethrower. He was a founding Nouveau Realiste and the leap into the void photograph is his.
IKB is physically vulnerable in a way ordinary paint is not, because the binder holds the pigment loosely to keep it matte: the surface is powdery, marks on contact, and cannot be cleaned or retouched without leaving a shine. Fingerprints are permanent. The Yves Klein Archives in Paris is the authenticating authority and there is a significant history of fakes, particularly of the monochromes and sponge reliefs. Posthumous casts and editions exist and are separate from lifetime work. Certification should be present.
If you own a work by Yves Klein
Send photographs and whatever paperwork came with it. The first question is what the work actually is — edition or unique, when, and in what condition — because everything else follows from the answer. A valuation costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
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